


be kind and curious in all things

by esperanzacruz (orphan_account)



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon typical character death, Gen, character examination, natasha and morgan bond, pepper grieves, post Endgame, short and sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:34:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27222805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/esperanzacruz
Summary: Morgan asks a lot of questions, Natasha humors her. Pepper slowly starts to feel better.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	be kind and curious in all things

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick warning, this isn't a fix-it. Tony dies in Endgame and stays dead. This is an examination of Pepper and the team after the fact. Written for a daily word prompt.

Morgan stands next to her mother's leg, hands wrapped firmly around her upper thigh. 

It's been months since they both lost her father, something Morgan still doesn’t fully understand. All she knows is her dad is gone and he’s never coming back. No matter how good she is or how many times she wishes to see him.

Five is far too young to understand the concept of death or to begin to understand how to heal from loss. One minute, she had a father, and the next she didn't.

She clings to Pepper when she's cooking, when she's cleaning, when she's grieving and Pepper lets her invade these spaces for fear that either of them will feel the void of loneliness Tony left behind creeping in.

And when she's able to stomach it, Pepper takes Morgan along to see the rest of the Avengers. The ones who didn't die on the battlefield.

Pepper is angry at first. Angry at them for being alive when Tony's dead. It's not their fault, of course, but it feels like it is.

Then being with them feels less like a festering wound and more like a comfort. To see these friends she's made over the years and have them hold her and comfort her through her grief while they also wade through their own.

It's good for Morgan too. To be surrounded by so much love for her father and to know this part of him.

The Avengers love her. They fawn over her every second they get, but none moreso than Natasha.

Morgan and Nat forge an unbreakable bond. She stops hanging onto Pepper's leg and takes to following Nat around, mirroring her and asking her an endless string of questions.

Nat, with the patience of a saint, lets her tag along.

Pepper doesn't say, but she thinks their bond is one of the softest things she's ever seen. It’s not like she doesn’t think Natasha is capable of being soft, it’s that she’s never been able to see her like this. 

Full of so much love for another person. Almost as if Morgan were her own child. 

On more than one occasion, Pepper finds herself overwhelmed by the emotion of seeing the two of them together. Sharing knowledge and secrets the same way Tony and Morgan had. 

Nat speaks to her softly, calling her sweet names, but the one Pepper hears come up the most is почемучка. And it’s not so long ago that Tony used that same sentiment, patting Morgan on the top of her head and telling her gently that it’s good to be curious and to ask questions. 

He wanted nothing more than for her to understand the world and make it better. To forge her own path, but never forget to be kind and curious in all things.

Pepper smiles through her tears, brushing them away when she sees Morgan take Nat’s hand, another question on her lips. Following in the footsteps of her father.


End file.
